We promised more Android coverage, so here you go, our take on Google Play. If you’re familiar with iTunes and iCloud from Apple, you’re probably pretty familiar with the concept behind Google Play. Of course, Google would like to think it’s a new idea, according to the official site... "Now your favorite music, books, movies, apps, and games are all in one place that's accessible from the Web and any Android device. Discover, buy and share like never before."

Amazon Prime:

Google Play

We promised more Android coverage, so here you go, our take on Google Play. If you’re familiar with iTunes and iCloud from Apple, you’re probably pretty familiar with the concept behind Google Play. Of course, Google would like to think it’s a new idea, according to the official site...“Now your favorite music, books, movies, apps, and games are all in one place that's accessible from the Web and any Android device. Discover, buy and share like never before.”

We all know that, like it or not, our lives are moving to the cloud. It seems like an inevitable evolution of technology and data. We want to be able to access our content from any device we own, at any time. The simplest way to do that, for the non-technophile, is to simply move everything to the cloud. Amazon has pretty much always been there, Walmart is moving there with Vudu, Apple moved there with iCloud, and Google is moving there with Google Play.

About Google Play, some snippits from the Google Play website:

All your entertainment in one placeGoogle Play is your one-stop shop for all your favorite entertainment. With over 450,000 apps, millions of songs and books, and thousands of movies, Google Play has something for everyone. Before you decide what you want, sample a song or book for free, view app ratings, reviews, and screenshots, or watch a movie trailer. Google Play is a more connected, powerful experience.

The power of the cloudHow cool would it be if your entertainment was just available anywhere? Now it is. Buy a book on your Android phone and read it on the web at play.google.com. Buy a new album on your Android tablet and listen to it on your desktop at work. Rent a movie online and watch it anywhere on your phone. That’s the beauty of the cloud. You can read, listen and watch all your favorite content anywhere you want. No software required and no wires or syncing needed, and the best part - Google Play cloud is free to use.

Share what you loveDiscover, shop, enjoy, and share music, movies, books, and apps anytime, anywhere. When you discover an amazing song, a nail-biting thriller or memorable movie, the first thing you want to do is share it with your friends. On Google Play sharing your favorite entertainment just got easier. You can easily share posts about your favorite books, music, movies, games or apps to your circles on Google+, email, or text message in a single click.

Buy now, listen now, sync neverThere are hundreds of free songs and millions more to buy on Google Play. The music you choose is automatically stored in your Google Play music library and instantly ready to play on your computer, Android phone or tablet.

Watch it now or laterRent movies and watch them instantly. Alternatively, download your movie for offline viewing and view it later using the Google Play Movies app or watch it directly on the Web.

Watch it anywhereWatch Google Play movies anywhere -- your couch, your friends’ house or in-flight. When you rent a movie with Google Play you can watch it on your phone, tablet or any Web connected PC.

Bottom Line

Essentially Google has merged all of their markets and media services into one service and rebranded it Google Play. They’re hoping that a combined service, integrated with Android and your other Google services like Google+ and potentially Gmail and others, will entice you to make Google Play your one stop shop for media, books and apps.

Google has probably been struggling to convince their users to buy their books, music, movies and TV shows directly from Google. Most of us are already entrenched somewhere else, be it iTunes, Amazon, or a host of other options. But if you can get anything you want from one shop, integrated into all your devices, that could change. And if Google can successfully get Google TV bundled into all major manufacturers sets in the next year or so, it could

We tried it online and on a few Android devices and it worked as advertised. Even tried it on Google TV (Google Play Music, Movies isn’t available yet on the Logitech Revue) and it performed fine there as well. We weren’t blown away by any aspects of the service; none of it was really new or earth shattering. But it could be a huge win for Google if they are successful with Android, Google TV and Chrome Books, and can make Google Play the de facto store for those platforms. It’s a bit like being the only McDonalds at the airport. sure there are better options, but for some reason, we all end up at McDonalds.

Reader Comments (3)

I hadn't heard of Google Play before listening to this episode. I checked it out briefly today. Meh, another online video rental site. I know it can tie in to your music/book/etc accounts and purchased, too, maybe that would be cool. It's just with all of these online "locker" sites coming up it's getting rather fragmented. You've almost got to just pick a site/service and go with it - and hope it doesn't go under.

I also noticed that the comments and reviews on movies don't appear to be filtered in any way. I wasn't signed in to Google when viewing the site, so "supposedly" they didn't know my age. There was profanity and explicit descriptions of movies in the reviews. That's not something I necessarily care for, and certainly not something I'd want my kids browsing through.